I Wasn't Expecting That
by Black Licorice Addict
Summary: It wasn't an ordinary wound, and Chat could only hope that he could figure out how to fix this bit of unexpected bad luck before it consumed his Lady. (Some mentions of blood).
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Everything is miraculous ladybug and everything hurts. *shimmies into dumpster with the rest of the trash***

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the ML franchise...just this drabble idea. Inspired by the Jamie Lawson song.**

 **Edit: Page breaks are breaking my pages in ways that should not be broken. Hopefully they are fixed now. Also what are verb tensens even?**

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 **I Wasn't Expecting That**

 _You spent the night in my bed,_

 _You woke up and you said,_

 _Well, I wasn't expecting that._

Everything happened so quickly: a twist of movement, a perfectly timed cataclysm attack, an opening for the villain even as their weapon shattered into dozens of fragments throughout the sleet. Ladybug was too preoccupied with searching for the akuma in the bad weather that she never saw the shard coming. Cat Noir, having just taken a foot to his solar plexus by the irate monster, missed the entire exchange. His only indication that something was amiss was a muffled yell from Ladybug.

By the time he righted himself and glimpsed his lady, she was kneeling, yo-yo in one hand releasing the white butterfly. Her other hand was clamped over her right side, her breaths exhaled with agonizing force.

"Ladybug!" her partner shouted, rushing over as she tossed her rapier into the air for the miraculous cleansing power.

Thousands of ladybugs formed from the sword before flickering and disappearing altogether. The heroine collapsed on the concrete rooftop, bits of hail now pelting her form.

Cat Noir had reached her by this point, pulling her into his arms and checking her over for battle wounds. A long, deep gash had managed to slice through her supposed impenetrable suit from the underside of her last rib to mid-abdomen. A nasty purple color was spreading from the wound outward, mingling with the blood now dripping onto his uniform and the rooftop beneath them.

"Lady!" he shook her, hazy blue eyes meeting his brilliant green ones. "Stay with me! Come on!" A dot disappeared from her earrings even as his ring lost another paw pad.

"Cat," she murmured, shaking hand coming to brush his damp locks away from his forehead. "Just bring me inside somewhere. I'll be okay."

"No!" He gathered her into his arms, standing up and searching wildly around at the dark lights blinking through the hail-turned-snow. "I'm not leaving you." The blond, having finally gotten his bearings, knew they were close to his house. The question was, would Ladybug live without going to a hospital? Cat Noir jumped to the next rooftop; he wasn't going to wait to find out.

 _That isn't an ordinary wound, Adrien_ , came Plagg's voice inside his head. _But you could absorb the bad luck out._

Adrien nearly slipped on the terra cotta tiles beneath his boots. _How do you mean?_ he inquired, not daring to hope he of all people could fix this. If he had been protecting his partner like he was supposed to, they wouldn't even be in this situation. Cat Noir leapt to the next roof, dimly making out the lights on his outside gate through the snowfall. Another beep resounded in the quiet; Ladybug was down to her last dot.

 _Our powers stem from bad luck, and when something or someone like Ladybug gets injured, that is the worst possible luck there is. Do you follow?_

Adrien understood.

 _So all you have to do is absorb the bad luck,_ Plagg finished, sounding for all the world that he was giving his host directions on how to make microwavable mac and cheese.

 _How do I absorb it?_ the boy demanded, landing hard on the balcony outside his room.

Ladybug interrupted their mental conversation with a loud moan after the last landing. "Cat? Where are we?" she hissed as she made to sit up in his arms, eyes searching the grounds. Everything was neatly covered in a thin layer of snow, but the courtyard looked familiar. A jolt of recognition shot through her and she began to squirm in her partner's arms.

"WHY ARE WE AT THE AGRESTE MANOR?" Ladybug demanded, making it quite difficult for Cat Noir to open the balcony doors. "WE CAN'T STAY HERE! WHAT IF THEY SEE US?"

Adrien nearly dropped her in shock when she admitted to recognizing the house. Did she know his family in her civilian life? Did they know each other personally? Not for the first time did he study her face, currently a mixture of panic and pain, and tried to look past the mask, willing his brain and heart to recognize the amazing girl that haunted his waking and sleeping hours.

Eventually his brain snapped back to the current reality and attempted to make up a believable story. "I know the guy that lives here. He's a... friend, and everyone is currently out of town," Adrien lied, hoping she wouldn't see through it. Another paw print beeped and vanished.

Ladybug looked like she might protest, but the dark purple flared from her wound, and she pressed herself more closely to Cat Noir's chest, a small whimper escaping her blue lips.

That was decision enough for Adrien as he shut the french doors behind him and quickly made his way to the bed.

Not a moment after he set her down, Ladybug's last dot blinked in warning. Green eyes met blue for a fraction of a second before Cat Noir tossed one edge of the navy comforter over her, muting the bright light underneath as the love of his life finally transformed back. A small red creature poked herself out from one corner, looking exhausted.

"Hurry, Cat Noir. It's getting worse," the kwami pleaded.

 _Tell me what to do!_ Adrien mentally shouted at Plagg.

 _Place your hands over the wound and focus on taking all of the negative luck for yourself,_ Plagg instructed, all business for once.

"Lady," Cat Noir murmured, edging toward the corner of the blanket, "You don't have to lift the covers, but I need you to take my hand and place it over the gash. I can fix this."

The silence stretched for the longest moment of Adrien's life. A slender bare hand peaked out from under the blanket to gently tug on his, and Adrien was startled that he could feel how cold they were even through his gloves.

He felt her abdomen clench in pain when his palm brushed against the wound, her tiny hand resting on top of his. One of his ears twitched as she breathed out a sharp gasp of discomfort.

 _Focus, Adrien,_ Plagg admonished.

So Adrien did. Green eyes snapped closed, and he willed all the negative energy surrounding his partner to leave her body and empower him. Summoned by the call of the bearer of bad luck, the darkness rushed to Cat Noir's open palm, twisting around his outstretched arm and engulfing him entirely.

It was all-consuming, and for one horrific moment, Adrien was overwhelmed with the power running through his veins, drunk on its potential to wreak havoc and destruction on anything he pleased. He could dissolve mountains, level entire countries, send the moon shattering into billions of pieces.

As these thoughts consumed him, he was vaguely aware of screaming in the background. And then he realized his mouth was open, emitting one long, guttural yell into the hollow cavern of his room.

Just as quickly as he was overcome with this newfound destructive luck, two arms wrapped around his stomach, holding him close, dark comforter pooled around their feet. Cat's mind became startlingly clear, focused on the hands clasped around his middle, willing him to return to himself.

"Kitty, come back to me," she all but whispered. "Just let it go."

He inhaled sharply through his nose, once, twice, then exhaled, the dark energy dissipating into the air like mist in the sunlight. The black ring beeped to indicate it had been fully recharged, but no other sound apart from the duo's breathing hung in the air.

Slowly, Marinette untangled her arms from Cat's waist, and he blinked his eyes shut. He waited for the sound of his blanket rustling from the floor and a soft groan from his partner as she lay back on the mattress before turning around.

"My Lady, are you alright?" he inquired, sitting on a corner of the bed and staring at the lump underneath the comforter.

"I'll be okay, Cat. Thank you," she replied in a tired voice, and he can't help but note the familiarity of her tone, so similar to another girl who spoke to him in timid stutters and shy compliments.

Adrien made a noise in the back of his throat like he was about to contradict her, so she moved a small hand from beneath the covers, reaching out for his. Gently, he clasped it in his own, laying down along side her, careful to tug the edges of the blanket down. Her kwami gazed at him curiously, and Cat informed her that there was a pantry adjacent to the kitchen stocked full and to help herself.

Tikki gave the lump on the bed a long look before nodding to him and vanishing through the wall.

They lay there for a long time, her breathing less labored and painful. Tikki returned and a full paw print blinked out before either speak again.

"I need to go," she murmured. If he hadn't been currently transformed, Adrien was positive he wouldn't have heard her

Quicker than Marinette could react, both his arms were wrapped tightly around her, preventing her from any movement at all. Marinette was about to lecture Cat Noir about personal space, but any complaint precariously balanced at the tip of her tongue died behind her teeth.

"Stay."

One word. Four letters. One syllable punctuating the quiet room. And it was enough to render her speechless, her resolve to somehow get back home before two in the morning rolled around gone as abruptly as Cat Noir's destructive power.

But there was heartbreak and concern and conviction lacing his tone, and as sure as she knew the sun rose in the east and set behind Adrien Agreste's eyes, Marinette knew that she would have done everything to make him stay if their positions were reversed.

The blood trail leading up to his house had long since been covered by a fresh blanket of white. By tomorrow all traces of the incident would be washed away, and she could certainly sneak back into her room way before her parents would rouse her for the day and tell her she was going to sleep away the weekend.

In the dim light from the snow reflecting the moon outside, Marinette could make out the shiny contours of her partner's leather suit, his wristbands glinting for her to see even underneath the blanket. Another paw print winked out as she reached her hand out to lay over his.

"Okay. I'll stay."

His arms relaxed, and the heroine allowed herself to sink deeper into the mattress, into the heat exuded by her partner. Lulled by the sense of being more secure and protected than she ever felt in her life, Marinette drifted off to sleep. In the morning she would deal with the awkwardness of having spent the night in her crush's room while he was away and the looming question of how she was to get home. She could deal with Cat's flirtations and banter with him like she hadn't almost died tonight. They would mend and argue and laugh.

But when the first rays of sunlight peaked through the giant bay windows, Marinette hadn't been expecting to wake up wrapped in two arms that were very much not covered in leather, slow and steady breathing grazing her ear and causing a jolt of something electric to shoot through her spine. Hesitantly, she attempted to extract herself from his arms, but she only succeded in waking her partner with a start.

Breath caught in her throat, the heroine of Paris cautiously glanced over her shoulder, meeting a pair of sleepy green eyes that widened as the situation came crashing down on the duo. His arms tightened reflexively, and her name came out like a whispered prayer on his exhale.

"Marinette?"

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 **A/N: Did someone say reveal fic bandwagon yes? *hops on***


	2. I wasn't expecting a second chapter

**A/N: Apparently you readers don't like stories that end with just an identity reveal. I decided I didn't quite like it either. So here you go. Chapter 2. The closure chapter.**

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 _It was only a word,_

 _It was almost mis-heard,_

 _'Cause I wasn't expecting that._

In her wildest daydreams, Marinette hadn't expected to wake up that morning in Adrien Agreste's bed next to a sleep-tousled Adrien Agreste whispering her name like it held the secrets to the universe.

Which, in all fairness, seemed reasonable considering Cat Noir was the boy who crashed on the other half of the mattress the evening before.

But perhaps Ladybug's good luck ran out in light of Cat Noir's over abundance of bad luck last night. That certainly seemed the case when Nathalie's voice announced that this was indeed Adrien staring into her eyes and not a figment of her overactive imagination.

Three short raps against the door followed by "Adrien! The car is leaving in ten minutes!" echoed in the large room, causing both teens to jolt to attention. Unfortunately, Marinette's clumsiness had already taken over in the presence of the blond model, and with an unladylike "EEEP!" they fell to the floor tangled in one undignified heap.

"I'm so, so sorry!" Adrien whispered, trying to find the edge of the comforter to unravel the mess of limbs and accidentally bumping her injured side. She hissed in pain, and with more murmured apologies, Adrien observed as she gently lifted the corner of her shirt to check the wound.

Instead of a deep gaping hole, a small sliver of deep plum lay over the entry site, fading still before the duo's eyes. For a moment, they met each other's gazes, but then reality came crashing down on them both.

"I have to go!" Marinette all but shouted before her customary "SPOTS ON!" A bright flash of pink light nearly blinded Adrien before he had the wherewithal to grab her wrist in mid-escape.

"My la-Marinette," he amended, trying to tone down the flirting as it did not seem appropriate in the moment, and the poor girl was already fleeing from him. "I'll find you later," he promised, releasing her hand. The implied 'we need to talk' was left in the back of his throat, but one look into her deep blue eyes let him know that she understood.

"Tonight," Ladybug replied, but it seemed too formal in the easy camaraderie they had built over the past year. Nothing further was said as she leapt out his window, yo-yo already latched on to the next building.

Adrien would have loved nothing more than to chase her down, to ask the millions of questions burning the tip of his tongue with an unquenchable fire, to hold her close and remind himself that she was okay, that she was alive and all was wonderful in the world.

But thankfully Plagg, who had kept remarkably quiet throughout the whole ordeal, brought the model back to reality. "So...you have, like, three minutes to make yourself presentable and get to the car before the photoshoot starts. Better get a move on, lover-boy."

Adrien didn't dignify the kwami with a response.

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The photoshoot took longer than normal. The photographer wanted "dreaming," "faraway," and "lovelorn" looks into the camera, but what he got was "distracted," "nervous," and "agitated." In the end, Adrien managed to scrape something that was a cross between "faraway" and "distracted" that seemed to satisfy the artist into leaving the poor boy to his thoughts.

Ladybug was Marinette. She had been behind him in class the entire time, right under his damn nose. Granted, he hadn't exactly conducted a manhunt after she explicitly stated their identities should remain secret from each other, but he couldn't help but feel moronic at having completely missed the fact that she was. _One. Row. Behind. Him._

Had he really even known her at all?

These melancholy thoughts continued to swarm around his brain until Plagg was literally snapping his paw in front of the boy's face.

"Earth to Adrien! _Heeeellllllloooooooooo_? You ever gonna head back to the car? The driver's been waiting almost fifteen minutes!"

One dramatic sigh later, Adrien had Plagg tucked safely in his shirt and began to meander back to the vehicle. Despite the turmoil that had his mind in utter chaos, the model knew that whatever happened, Ladybug was his partner and his best friend. Knowing that she and Marinette were the same person wasn't going to change that.

It was this small, delicate thought that gave Adrien the courage to meet his lady that night. They almost never set a specific location to start their patrols, but that never seemed to matter as they had an innate penchant for finding one another over the course of the evening. And right now, Adrien could feel a tug on his heart toward the spot where they had initially met what felt like a lifetime ago.

The Eiffel Tower loomed above Cat Noir, and not for the first time did he stare up from its base and marvel at his own insignificance. This monument had been here before his time, before Paris's Miraculous holders. And this monument would continue to stand long after people forgot him and Ladybug.

His ears twitched almost imperceptibly.

"Penny for your thoughts?" The chilly breeze carried her whisper to his human ears, and the boy turned to glance at her over his shoulder, a sly smile pulling his lips to the side.

"Only a penny? They're worth at least a _cat_ rillion euros," he winked. She snorted at the cheesiness of the pun, but it served its purpose; the awkward tension had effectively disappeared.

Cat Noir turned fully to face Ladybug, watching her scrutinize his appearance, willing herself to put all the pieces together that she had for so long but didn't know how they fit.

"Marinette," he murmured, and her blue eyes shot to his vivid green ones in surprise. "Perhaps we should take this conversation to a more _private_ location," he nodded at the scattered passerbys walking around and observing the heroic duo curiously.

She nodded once, stepping closer to him, her yo-yo still wrapped securely around her hips. Without further preamble, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and Cat Noir, taking his cue, pulled out the metallic stick and extended it until both of them were near the very top of the tower. Ladybug leapt gracefully to the iron frame half a beat before Cat Noir, who climbed through the latticework until he and his partner were effectively hidden from sight.

Most of the snow had melted from the previous day, but the ice still lingered on the strong metal, forcing the two to proceed with caution until they found their customary nook. Sitting on the freezing iron wasn't an option, so they stood, breaths materializing in front of their lips as delicate plumes of white. The unspoken tension was slowly returning until Ladybug spoke.

" _Adrien_." It wasn't a question so much as a confirmation of a fact. Like Newton's Laws of Motion. An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force, and he waited for her to set their relationship back into motion.

Cat Noir's gaze remained firmly on the girl in front of him until she brought a hand to cup his cheek, rubbing a thumb against the underside of his mask. Adrien felt his eyes close of their own accord, a deep rumble echoed in the back of his throat as he brought his hand to cover hers.

"I'm so glad it's you," she murmured, bringing her other hand to his face and tugging his forehead down to press against hers.

"And I you," he breathed, allowing his eyes to open languidly and looking at her calm, joyful demeanor. His leather clad arms wrapped around her in the tightest hug he could muster, careful to avoid yesterday's injury. "So...we're good?"

"Silly kitty," she rubbed her nose to his in an Eskimo kiss. "We're better."

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 **A/N: Just a little sweet and not too romantic. I feel like their relationship would be a slow burn once their identities were revealed.**


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